The Grand Tour from the Alps to the Nile

Of all the applications of photography, none has been more popular than the recording of the travel experience. This handsome album of 176 photographs from the last century, including numerous examples of celloidin prints, daguerreotypes, albumin prints, and stereograms, some hand-colored, is both a documentation of what tourists looked for in their travels and a graphic record of the early history of photography. The introduction, which appears in Italian, French, and English, supplies substantial identification of pioneer photographers and travelers, mostly Europeans. The translation into English is a bit rough. The images are from the Alps southward, with a concentration on Italy. There are also a few on Greece, the Holy Lands, and North Africa. While an expensive purchase for smaller libraries, this book deserves a place in larger collections emphasizing the history of photography and the history of travel.